Invited tutorial: Phase Change Memory: Replacement or transformational

In this tutorial, a short account on the working principles of Phase Change Memory and its development will be introduced, followed by a comprehensive comparison with incumbent and other emerging memory technologies. Focus will be drawn to the technical requirements for the replacement of DRAM and NAND Flash with new memory technologies as these incumbent technologies are approaching their physical limits of conventional two-dimension scaling. Existing characteristics and the current state of the development of Phase Change Memory in the industry are examined to match the requirements of a replacement for DRAM and NAND Flash separately. The replacement scenario will be summarized with suggestions for further development. The transformational scenario begins with a study of the current landscape and future directions in enterprise computing and consumer electronics. We shall examine the opportunity of introducing a new memory system requiring holistic and collaborative efforts among the system and processor designers, as well as software engineers. Again, suggestions on further development directions for Phase Change Memory for the transformation scenario will be outlined.